Land, lineage and clan in early Anlo

Abstract

Opening ParagraphAccording to G. K. Nukunya, the contemporary social organization of the Aŋlɔ Eve—a people located in the southeastern corner of the Republic of Ghana—is ‘based on a [segmentary] lineage system … generalized at a higher level in clanship.’ (Nukunya 1969:20). The clan orhlɔis the largest social unit in the Aŋlɔ social system and is defined as a group of males and females who observe the same totems and taboos, worship the gods of the particular clans to which they belong, and who claim to be the descendants, through approximately eight to ten generations, of a common putative male ancestor. Fifteen clans, dispersed throughout the towns, villages and hamlets of Aŋlɔ are recognized by the traditional political authorities as part of thehlɔsystem. They include the Lafe, Amlade, Adzovia, Bate, Like, Bame, Klevi, Tovi, Tsiame, Agave, Ame, Dzevi, Vifeme, Detsofe and Blu.

abutia ewe of west Africa

“…Both are composed of minimal lineages aggregated directly into lineages without any intermediate level of aggregation. The lineages are further aggregated into clans, an organization in fact quite common to many West African and Melanesian 44 It therefore goes without saving that I do not accept Greene's thesis of the origin of clans in Anlo (Greene 1981 This brief survey concludes the somewhat conjectural analysis of the precolonial polity, and of the traditional political groups observable nowadays. Much of this reconstruction remains hypothetical because of the extent to which new political circumstances have completely disrupted the precolonial machinery of government and fostered a definition of 'traditional' jurisdictions and practices which bears little resemblance to the precolonial past.…”

“…Religious and military command came to be united in the same town (Anloga) which emerged as the capital of a small 'empire' extending over villages and towns which were formerly sovereign. The presence of a Danish fort and the large immigration from GaAdangme areas following Ashanti forays (see Greene 1981) might have contributed to this development but, whatever the circumstances, the result is clear : the relationship between the Awoamefia and other title-holders and grouprepresentatives within and outside his capital bore little resemblance to that of the Abutia fiagã to other title-holders. In my opinion, the dissimilarities in their political organization flow directly from the fact that sovereignty was attached to different levels of grouping in the two polities.…”

The Abutia Ewe of West Africa: A Chiefdom That Never Was

“…Both are composed of minimal lineages aggregated directly into lineages without any intermediate level of aggregation. The lineages are further aggregated into clans, an organization in fact quite common to many West African and Melanesian 44 It therefore goes without saving that I do not accept Greene's thesis of the origin of clans in Anlo (Greene 1981). Greene, who tries to apply Wilks' thesis that the Ashanti clans were actually created by the emergence of the state (Wilks 1977), argues that the Anlo clans were formed to absorb a large population of Ga-Adangme immigrants who fled Akan aggressions.…”

“…Religious and military command came to be united in the same town (Anloga) which emerged as the capital of a small 'empire' extending over villages and towns which were formerly sovereign. The presence of a Danish fort and the large immigration from Ga-Adangme areas following Ashanti forays (see Greene 1981) might have contributed to this development but, whatever the circumstances, the result is clear : the relationship between the Awoamefia and other title-holders and grouprepresentatives within and outside his capital bore little resemblance to that of the Abutia fiagã to other title-holders. In my opinion, the dissimilarities in their political organization flow directly from the fact that sovereignty was attached to different levels of grouping in the two polities.…”

Matrilinéarité et culte des aïeules chez les Éwé

“…Pour la morphologie sociale des groupes éwé autres que ouatchi, nous nous référons àNukunya 1969, Greene 1981et Patten 1990 pour les Anlo, Fiawoo 1974b, 1984 pour les Tongu, Asamoa 1971, Kludze 1971et Verdon 1983 pour les Ewe septentrionaux, Mignot 1985 pour les Guin, etSurgy 1981Surgy , 1988 pour les Éwé du littoral togolais. 11Voir Westermann 1935a : 137 ;1954 : 385 et Antheaume 1978.…”